LESSER, ALEXANDER:

Polish painter; born at Warsaw 1814; died there 1884. He was educated at the Warsaw lyceum and studied art at Warsaw University, at the Academy of Dresden (1833-35), and at Munich under Cornelius and Schnorr (1842). He devoted himself mainly to painting scenes from Polish history; and in search of historical material he made extensive tours through Germany, France, Belgium, and England. Among his historical paintings the best known are: "Wincent Kadlubek," "Skarbek Habdank," "The Young Boleslaw," "The Wry-Mouthed," and "Wanda and Jadwiga." For his "forty portraits of Polish kings" (reproductions published at Warsaw in 1860) he was elected a member of the Cracow Academy of Science.

Lesser was also active as an art critic and as a writer of historical sketches, contributing to the Polish periodicals "Klosy," "Tygodrik Illustrowany," and others.